Tech transfer Webb emerges as No. 1 senior QB NFL draft prospect

Davis Webb once lost out to Baker Mayfield at Texas Tech, and then beat him out. Now he hopes to follow in Mayfield’s footsteps with a super season for a new team.

Rewind to 2013 when Mayfield, a walk-on at Texas Tech, shockingly won the starting quarterback job. But a mid-season injury knocked him out for a month and Webb eventually won the job heading into 2014. Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma, bided his time, then last season beat out Trevor Knight — forcing him to transfer to Texas A&M — and led the Sooners to the College Football Playoff.

Webb watched last season from the Tech sideline, beat out by Patrick Mahomes. Now Webb is gone, transferring to Cal (after previously committing to Colorado), where he’ll aspire to replace No. 1 NFL draft pick Jared Goff, and run the offensive scheme of Jake Spavital, the offensive coordinator who was run off from A&M after last season’s disappointment. Spavital is a disciple of former Tech coach Mike Leach (via Dana Holgorsen), whose Air Raid offense initially got off the ground with Tech coach and former quarterback Kliff Kingsbury.

OK, now back to Webb, the former three-star prospect from Prosper, who, as a graduate transfer, will be able to play next season for the Golden Bears. And here’s where things really get interesting.

The 6-foot-5 Webb, who attempted just 41 passes in 2015, is rated by ESPN’s Mel Kiper as the No. 1 senior quarterback prospect for the 2017 NFL Draft. Just to be clear, Webb is not the overall No. 1 QB prospect, but No. 1 among seniors, which is still pretty lofty praise for a quarterback who was No. 2 on Tech’s depth chart last season.

And for the record, Kiper does not list the more diminutive Mayfield among his top five senior signal callers. The 6-3 Mahomes, who will be a junior, is ranked No. 5 on Kiper’s top underclassmen QB prospect list.

Webb threw for more than 5,200 yards in 2013 and 2014. If he wins the Cal job and gets off to a hot start, he could be on his way to penning one of the more remarkable stories of the 2016 college football season.

We watched Mayfield rocket the Sooners to the playoff. Now another Tech transfer is in position to lift the Golden Bears, as well as his own NFL draft stock.

For a progress report, circle Sept. 17: The Texas Longhorns will be in Berkeley to face the Bears and their former Red Raiders foe.